Third DCA Affirms Dismissal with Prejudice for Fraud on the Court

John H. Richards successfully defended against a personal injury lawsuit, obtaining a dismissal with prejudice for fraud on the court. Richards obtained video-surveillance of Plaintiff that clearly refuted her allegations that her injury was permanent and continuing, with concomitant future damages. An evidentiary hearing was held wherein the Trial Court found based on the Plaintiff’s testimony at deposition, the surveillance video and testimony at the evidentiary hearing that Plaintiff had lied under oath regarding issues material to the prosecution of her claims and that Plaintiff’s deception was intended to interfere with the judicial system’s ability to impartially adjudicate the case. On Appeal, defended by W. Todd Boyd and Yvette Lavelle, the Third District Court of Appeal Affirmed with Opinion quoting Roman law from over 2,000 years ago stating that Roman law recognized the deterrent effect of harsh penalties in the phrase “Ut poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes perveniat”—“That punishment may come to a few, the fear of it should affect all.”